Living in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra are the
endangered forest people, orangutans. Orang
hutan is Indonesian for ‘forest person’. Harrison Ford recently visited
Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, to film Years of Living Dangerously and bring attention to the
destruction of tropical peat forests.
The endangered orangutans are not the only ones suffering
due to the loss of these habitats. Indonesia is the world’s third largest
carbon emitter (after the USA and China), mostly due to deforestation. Forests
are often illegally logged, slash and burn agriculture remains common, and palm
oil plantations replace natural peat wetlands. Peat meters deep in much of
Kalimantan has been steadily locking away carbon for thousands of years in its most,
organic layers. The disturbance of the peat releases tons of carbon dioxide.
Harrison Ford also met with Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to discuss the deteriorating condition of Indonesia’s rainforests.
SBY has pledged to reduce Indonesia’s carbon emissions by over 40 percent by
2020. Heightened efforts to halt the destruction of peat forests will be required
to meet this goal.
REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation) proposals have so far fallen flat due to bureaucratic hurdles and
the absence of a functioning international market for trading carbon credits.
SBY’s second and final term as President will end in 2014,
the same year as Harrison Ford’s movie release. Can either man significantly
slow the pace of forest conversion and carbon emission in Indonesia?
Watch and read more about Harrison Ford’s visit to Indonesia
and Indonesia’s peat forests.
Photo by Rumi Naito
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